'Turned the country into hell': HC blasts prosecution for opposing bail of Odhikar leaders
High Court bench of Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad granted the bail plea of Adilur and Elan on Tuesday
The High Court (HC) today lashed out at the prosecution for opposing the bail of human rights organisation Odhikar's Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director ASM Nasiruddin Ela in a case filed under the ICT Act.
"You [the prosecution] have turned the country into hell," the High Court bench of Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad told Deputy Attorney General Rezaul Karim before granting the bail plea of Adilur and Elan on Tuesday (10 October).
Senior Advocate AJ Mohammad Ali represented the Odhikar leaders before the court at the hearing and was interrupted by Deputy Attorney General Rezaul while presenting his argument.
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"Why are you interrupting? Let the lawyers of the accused speak first," Justice Emdadul Haque told the DAG.
Later, DAG Reza again opposed the final verdict of the court to grant bail to Adilur and Elan.
In response, Justice Emdadul expressed displeasure and said, "Why did you [the state] sentence them for just two years then? Couldn't you just sentence them for life?"
Earlier, Adilur and Elan were sentenced to two years of imprisonment on 14 September in an ICT (presently Cyber Security Act) case filed in 2013. In addition, they were also fined Tk10,000 each and sentenced to a one-month jail sentence in default.
The High Court also suspended the fine today.
Adilur and Elan are accused of "distorting reports and doctored images" about police action on a Hefajat-e-Islam rally in Motijheel in the capital on 6 May 2013.
Adilur was detained on 10 August 2013, after Odhikar published a fact-finding report on extrajudicial killings and excessive use of force to disperse a protest in Bangladesh.
His whereabouts remained unknown for several hours until the police filed a case against him under the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006, which was later replaced by the government in 2018 with the Digital Security Act.
He was in custody for 62 days; while Elan, who was detained later, was in custody for 25 days.
